Moms Demand Action Kentucky Chapter Calls for the Resignation of Representative Leslie Combs After Her Gun Discharged Inside the State Capitol Annex

The Kentucky chapter of Moms Demand Action for Gun Sense in America is calling for the resignation of Kentucky State Representative Leslie Combs (KY-94) after discharging a semi-automatic handgun in the Kentucky State Capitol Annex on Tuesday evening.

Our lawmakers should be held to the highest of standards, and should never put others in harms way. As a concealed-carry permit holder, Rep. Combs should understand the risks of handling a loaded gun within close proximity of others. She not only put her own life in danger, but that of her colleague Rep. Jeff Greer (KY-27) who was present at time of the incident when her gun discharged and ricocheted inside her office. Rep. Combs’ actions…

A U.S. Customs and Border Protection chemist reads a DNA profile to determine the origin of a commodity. (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

Just a few hours ago, Somerset County Prosecutors filed a motion dismissing the indictment against Gerard Richardson, exonerating him of murder for which he served nineteen years. Gerard’s exoneration comes two months after a court overturned his conviction and ordered his release from prison.

Gerard was convicted of the 1994 murder based on the testimony of a forensic dentist who claimed that a bite mark on the victim’s body matched him. Gerard maintained his innocence. Although testing was inconclusive, he held out hope that DNA would one day exonerate him. In the most recent round of testing, the lab was able to detect a complete male DNA profile from the bite mark that excluded Gerard.

Gerard has begun to put his life back together after his wrongful imprisonment, starting work at FedEx just days after his release.

FBI regulations have prevented officials in New Jersey from entering the DNA profile from the bite mark into the DNA database, which has over ten million profiles of convicted offenders and could name the person responsible for the 1994 murder.

Anthony Dansberry is serving a seventy-five-year sentence for a robbery and murder he didn’t commit. He has already served twenty-two years for the crime, the snatching of an elderly woman’s purse that resulted in the woman’s death four months later as result of injuries she suffered when the attacker knocked her to the ground. Because there is no physical evidence for DNA testing, Anthony’s best hope of being released is clemency from Governor Quinn.

Anthony was twenty-seven at the time of his arrest and had no criminal record or history of violence. He was convicted based on shaky identification evidence and a typed confession that he signed under the mistaken belief that the papers would secure his release. Four eyewitnesses viewed a lineup that included Anthony, and only one witness picked him. That witness had previously viewed Anthony’s photo in a photo array. One of the other witnesses said that Anthony was definitely not the perpetrator, and another selected a different person from the lineup. Additionally, his palmprint did not match a palmprint found on the hood of a car that the attacker touched while fleeing the scene.

Anthony has a low IQ and the reading comprehension of a first grader. His “confession” uses words like “viaduct” and “southbound,” which are not in his vocabulary. Anthony has always maintained that he was told that the papers he signed were for his release. His aunt corroborated his account, saying that he told her after his arrest that he had signed “release papers.”

The current budget brokered by House Budget Committee Chairman Paul Ryan (R-Wis.) and Senate Budget Committee Chairwoman Patty Murray (D-Wash.) is up for a vote today. It will be interesting to see if it passes both houses.

Giving more tax break to the rich and cutting subsidies for the underemployed and poor seems to be a bipartisan effort these days.

Pope Francis has made yet another strongly worded statement on growing inequality and economic justice, this time slamming outsized salaries and bonuses for corporate executives while others survive on “crumbs.”

Fox Nation posted a respectful article about Nelson Mandela’s death – and many of their readers responded in kind. But many erupted in such shocking racism and/or death-wishing hatred for President Obama that words fail us. You really need to see them for yourself. (H/T Andrew S.) UPDATED